English Literature and Flemish Painting

This Christmas my wife received a really nice book from my parents titled, Bird-Watcher’s Bible published by National Geographic. We were thumbing through it the other day and came upon a painting similar to the one below. I was immediately attracted to the comically diverse flock. Chaucer’s poem that inspired the painting is titled, “Parlement of Foules.” And he writes:

Therewith a wind, scarcely it might be less,
Made in the leaves green a noise soft
Accordant to the fowls’ song aloft.

It seems unlikely that the song is “soft” owing to the paucity of song birds depicted below. What a racket. And what a mess they will leave behind.